Hi,
whenever actual performance of the installed equipments is not known (e.g. lack of appropriate technical datasheets, missing documentation, etc), is there any default to be considered for proposed building calculations? Can we consider proposed equipments with performance equal to baseline equipments?
Regards,
Jesse Hunt
Sustainability CoordinatorPowers Brown Architecture
2 thumbs up
October 16, 2018 - 11:00 am
Yes Ricardo, I would assume the baseline flow rate for each unknown fixture would have to be assumed in your proposed case. However, I've never submitted without knowledge of my fixtures.
emily reese moody
Sustainability Director, Certifications & ComplianceJacobs
LEEDuser Expert
476 thumbs up
October 16, 2018 - 7:06 pm
I'm not sure about assuming the baseline. You could easily have fixtures that are worse than the baselines given by the credit. If your project were a renovation, for example, and you had some older, existing fixtures contributing to your calcs, those fixtures could have flush/flow rates above the baselines (which, until somewhat recently were considered low-flow), which would skew your calcs in your favor if you were to assume they were the same as the LEED baseline.
What's your project scenario? Are the fixtures in question recently installed, you just don't have the backup needed? You can often get the flush rates and/or model number off the fixtures, themselves. I've had to do this with some existing fixtures in spaces that were to remain. They weren't in our scope, so they weren't required to be included in the prereq calcs, but our users did use them, so they were part of the credit calcs.
Alternatively, if you cannot glean any information from the fixtures, don't have access to them, etc., I would contact GBCI directly and ask for clarification. If you do this, please post the results here for other users.
Jens Apel
134 thumbs up
October 17, 2018 - 1:48 am
Would it be an option to keep the fixtures but replace the aerator piece? I always recommend pressure independent aerators in NC projects, as here in Europe the standard test pressure is different to LEED requirements.
Ricardo Sá
Director of SustainabilityEdifícios Saudáveis Consultores (503 910 767)
85 thumbs up
October 17, 2018 - 3:26 am
Emily,
we basically have two situations that can justify the use of baseline performance:
1) we do not know the model of installed equipments (lack of info and / or we don't have acess to them);
2) manufacturer do not provide technical datasheets with the necessary information for LEED compliance (e.g. showers and taps flowrate at 3 bar pressure).
In this case, what do you recommend?
emily reese moody
Sustainability Director, Certifications & ComplianceJacobs
LEEDuser Expert
476 thumbs up
October 18, 2018 - 11:23 pm
Hmm...do you have any documentation available that shows any other sort of compliance or calculations? If yes, is there a way to deduce information from it? For example, are there industry standards or code requirements where your project is that the fixtures must meet at a minimum?
Sounds like a tough situation. I would contact GBCI and get a dialogue going about what you should do. Explain your circumstances and why you're unable to get additional information. They should be able to advise you on how to treat the fixtures in the calcs. Let us know how it goes.
This is the link for contacting GBCI: http://www.gbci.org/contact
Use the "Certification question" button in the middle.